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Live from the Grand Princess, Dec 20-30th, Christmas cruise

Coral

By Coral,
in Princess Cruises

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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Life from Grand Princess - December 20 - 30th

 
I tried to do a LIVE post last night and my post went POOF. So I am writing in email and will copy and paste.
 
I booked the Grand Princess 16 days before sailing. No thought went into this except for I already had the time away from work, it was longer than 7 nights and flying West as opposed to East is easier for me time frame wise. I flew in the day of which I have only done on my very first cruise. I regret it but it all turned out. I asked a long time friend to join me and was thrilled he said “yes”. I haven’t seen him in years.
 
I really don’t care where this ship goes - I just needed a vacation. This sailing goes to SFO, Cabo for 2 days, Ensenada and San Diego.
 
My medallion shipped from Singapore the Wednesday after I booked and I got it on Saturday. More than a week before sailing.
 
Pre-test - testing on the weekend turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I did not use the home test I had ordered. I was able to schedule a Walgreens test which took 5 hours to get results and also did a drive through test which took less than 20 minutes. I can normally do a PCR test at work and get the results the next day but I had to test on Saturday or Sunday.
 
When booking my flight - I had a choice of a 1 hour layover or 3 hour layover in Denver. I chose the 3 hour as I wanted to make sure my bag made it. My bag went on the 1 hour layover flight. So I met up with my bag in LAX.
 
Dec 20th - my day started with waking up at 3 am and catching a 6 am flight. I landed in LAX at approx 11:25 or so. The main hiccup was getting Princess transfer to the ship. I missed the one transfer by about 2 minutes. I waited a long time for the next bus. Several of us were frustrated. We got to the ship at 1:45 or so and I can honestly say it had nothing to do with traffic. The person at the airport also had a flip phone which appeared to be cracked and whenever she called her contact, she had to leave messages. My guess is because of reduced capacity on the ship - they were running less transfers.
 
Check in was quick. Though the person thought my hair looked more blonde in my picture than currently. I tried to explain that when I blow dry my hair - it is more blonde. She took another picture which probably is not great. So far, it has not been attached to my profile (thankfully). They did check my COVID card, test results and passport when I checked in.
 
I love the first day lunch in the dining room and missed it due to the time boarding. I had a delightful meal in Alfredos.
 
The ship - I have heard different numbers but the consensus seems to be between 450-468 passengers. The ship is very empty and seems to be fully staffed. Service is amazing. I believe there were over 1000 last week and over 1000 on the next sailing. I am personally enjoying having this ship to myself and a few other individuals!
 
The ship is in great condition! I can’t find anything wrong with it. Anyone who is hesitant to sail on her due to her age, don’t be. She is very well maintained. I have a mid/aft minisuite cabin and it looks great. The room steward is also amazing.
 
Lunch was at Alfredos. Excellent. Dinner was in Deck 6 mid ship dining room and the aft dining room on Deck 6. We went to midship and asked if it was the only one open. They told us about aft dining room and that dining room was very empty.
 
The dinner menu was not exciting to me. I ended up with a salad, fried chicken and they brought some streamed vegetables out for me. Dessert was chocolate hazelnut souflee (one of my favorites and the waiter brought out a piece of cheesecake to share. II probably should have ordered a burger.
 
Tonight is formal night. Christmas is not a formal night which surprised me.
 
While the ship is decorated for Christmas - it is not as decorated as my previous Christmas cruises. This is my 3rd Christmas at sea, all have been to Mexico.  It is decorated but just not to the extent. I will try to post some pictures. 
 
Service - needless to say, service has been amazing.
 
Face masks - everyone seems to be wearing them properly. The staff seem to all have KN95 - similar to what I bought at Lowes when I got the message. So far, I am wearing the ones II got from a medical scrub company (Jaanuu). I do have 10 KN95 masks with me. 
 
Everyone onboard seems very friendly. There are some teens I have barely seen on the ship.
 
Most traveled - my friend informed me there are 140 Elite onboard, he is #8 on most traveled and the luncheon is on the 23rd. He didn’t check to see if I made the cut. My friend is much more traveled than I am with Princess (this is his 3rd cruise since this summer!) He did say I could be his +1. We do not know the cut-off requirement for lunch.
 
If Internet permits - I will try to post pictures.

 

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Kenosha Cruiser

Kenosha Cruiser

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Thanks for doing this live thread on the Grand Princess. The Christmas decorations look beautiful, also thanks for posting pictures. We will be on the Grand for the first time in May doing Alaska. Glad to hear the ship is in great shape. Have a wonderful time on your Christmas cruise! 

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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47 minutes ago, gardenbunny said:

With that capacity it must seem empty!  Enjoy the peace and quiet. 🎄🎄🎄  I think the decorations look very nice.  Love the house display

We are doing NYE on Enchanted out of FLL.  Hoping for low capacity also.

I absolutely LOVE the capacity. I know Princess isn't thrilled with it. It seems weird to see the crew put hundreds of chairs out by the pool in the morning and then get them ready for Movies Under the Stars knowing that even if every passenger is out there, they would still have extra chairs. They seem to be going all out in regards to stuff like this.

 

In other ways - things are cut back. There is just one show at night and the ship is shutting down early. The buffet closes early, pizzeria closes early, burgers by the pool is closing earlier than normal. I really don't think anyone is complaining. International Cafe is still open and room service.

 

I hope you have an amazing cruise on the Enchanted! I think I heard there are 1500 expected next week on the Grand's New Years Eve cruise.

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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Tuesday report - Day at Sea. The weather was probably 50's which was perfect for me. I had breakfast and lunch in the dining room. I did go to the casino for the first time in my life on a ship as it is smoke free. I gambled all of $10 and it went way too quick and I realized this was not for me. I am envious of everyone who gets casino offers and have come to the conclusion that I never will.

 

I read a book for most of the day. I had to move from area to area. I tried the covered pool area and could not get comfortable in the chairs out there. I later moved to Wheelhouse Lounge and then they started a presentation in there. Eventually I went to a port talk on SFO. In the covered pool area - there was a group of kids with their parents and grandparents making gingerbread houses. They were all having a blast and were enjoying virgin chocolate banana drinks while making the houses. It seemed like the kids were eating as much candy as they were putting on their creations. I did take a picture but won't post it because kids are involved. They had origami snow flake activity (or something like that) in Sabatini's when I was in Wheel House Lounge.

 

I did stop by the Captain Circle Host and Future Cruise desk after I found it. It is in the Crown Grill area. I would never have found it if the shore excursion office hadn't pointed me in the right direction. I did get 2 FCD and asked if I made the cut off for Most Traveled Lunch. I did not - I was close..... Thankfully my friend did make it so I can go as his +1. The Future Cruise Consultant (Bernadette) helped me extend a date on something - so I was thankful for her.

 

Everywhere I go - staff are constantly making the ship shine. IMO - nothing needs to be done but they are polishing chrome around elevators, painting exterior parts of the ship on the promenade, etc... I am not exaggerating that this ship is in excellent condition and looks amazing.

 

We went to the aft dining room tonight and had excellent wait staff. I think their names were Jeff and Mark. We decided to see if we could get this wait staff each night and they set us up with a set dining time at one of their tables.

 

I had a garden salad, beef tenderloin and then splurged and had the Norman Love dessert AND bananas foster. I wish they made the bananas foster and other items table side like they used to but they are not due to COVID.

 

Tomorrow is SFO and it is supposed to rain. Since I have been to SFO many times and my traveling friend lived there up until recently - we decided to play it by year. If it is just sprinkling - we will venture out but if it is raining - it will be a ship day.

 

I am enjoying having a mini-suite to myself! 

 

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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42 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

thank you! if you have time could you list the captain & cruise director please, we are (hopefully) sailing her to Hawaii on the 4th

 

I will get this for you tomorrow. I am looking at my paperwork in my cabin and can not find either name on anything they have given me.

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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1 hour ago, travelin.sisters said:

thank you! if you have time could you list the captain & cruise director please, we are (hopefully) sailing her to Hawaii on the 4th

 

Captain is Mariano Manfuso and Hotel Manager is Michelle Castigliono. Still need to find CD's name.

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caribill

caribill

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14 hours ago, Coral said:

 

While the ship is decorated for Christmas - it is not as decorated as my previous Christmas cruises. This is my 3rd Christmas at sea, all have been to Mexico.  It is decorated but just not to the extent.

 

 

First of all, thanks for this live from.

 

Another thread said that Princess was doing their own Xmas decorating instead of hiring an outside company as in the past. This may be why there are less decorations than usual.

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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4 hours ago, caribill said:

 

First of all, thanks for this live from.

 

Another thread said that Princess was doing their own Xmas decorating instead of hiring an outside company as in the past. This may be why there are less decorations than usual.

There was always a Christmas tree on the funnel - I don't see one.

 

The trees are decorated so much different this time - I am not surprised if they did their own this time.

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